How much energy does closing the curtains really save and does your home lose more heat when its raining? We visit the house where scientists put it to the test

The Energy House: Number one Joule Terrace, where the lights, heating and TV switch on and off - but there are no residents

Something strange is going on at number one Joule Terrace in Salford. Windows are opened and shut, the toilet flushed and the television blares away. And yet there’s not a soul at home.

But there aren't poltergeists squatting in the 95-year-old Coronation Street style terraced house. It’s science, not superstition, behind the strange goings-on - the property exists in a hangar at the University of Salford.

Called the Energy House, the house was pulled down from a street in Salford and rebuilt in the sealed chamber to be used by researchers and industry experts to test everything to do with energy efficiency.

Researchers
can create any weather conditions they like around it – they can make
it rain on it, snow, choose any temperature from minus two degrees to
30, and make the wind roar.

Everything
in the house is monitored and controlled – even down to the type of
paint on the walls - so researchers can create absolutely accurate
experiments.

Does it really make a difference to the room temperature if you close the curtains on a cold evening?

Is it really worth the bother to install cavity wall insulation or will bills still continue to rise?

Scientists can find precise answers to all of these questions using the home for testing.

This is Money was invited for a tour – but strongly advised to bring a jumper as the outside temperature inside the hangar is currently being kept at five degrees.

There’s something very eerie about a two-up-two-down in a completely sealed chamber.

Inside there’s a Picasso sketch on the wall, a plant in the corner, candle on the coffee table. It all looks quite lived in – were it not for the cables and sensors snaking out of every door, wall and ceiling.

It’s easy to imagine looking out of the bedroom window and seeing the Rover’s Return on the other side of the street. Instead the view is of a wind machine, rain vent and an air cooling system that’s keeping the outside temperature feeling mildly refrigerated.

Cosy indoors: The terraced house looks like any other home - except for the sensors and cables hanging from the ceiling

Everything is in full working order - and looks relatively unchanged from when it was shifted from a terrace in Salford to the university a few years ago. The bed is made, the bath looks like it has accommodated many a soak, you could cook a full dinner in the kitchen.

Next week a group of retired women will be spending some time at the house so researchers can see how they respond to entering the cold – will they first put on an extra layer, keep active, or turn the heating right up?

‘The house is a typical Salford terrace – it represents 21 per cent of the housing stock in the UK,’ says research fellow Richard Fitton.

‘It and the neighbouring house were due to be demolished but instead were rescued and reinstalled at the university. The chamber is completely sealed so we can control the conditions very accurately.’

This week the house is being used by Beama, the trade association for manufacturers of devices such as smart meters and in home displays, to test the savings that can be made using proper heating controls.

Home sweet home: The house has a proper kitchen and bedroom - the only clue that it's in a sealed chamber are the cables and wires in every room - and the strange view outside

‘We were quite surprised by the extent of the findings,’ says Richard. ‘We found that the addition of thermostatic radiator valves [which control the temperature in each room according to different needs throughout the day], reduced heating bills by 40 per cent’.

The house
is always throwing up new surprises.

For example if it's windy outside,
heat loss from the home will increase by 5-8 per cent.

But if it's rainy
the loss shoots up to 20 per cent. And if it's windy and rainy, expect a
massive 30 per cent heat loss.

And
do not underestimate the power of curtains. Drawing the blinds at dusk
can reduce heat loss by 13-14 per cent and curtains from 15-17 per cent,
Richard reveals.

The university used to ask students to pretend to live in the house to create real-life conditions – to open and shut doors and windows as a real-life resident would.

Who lives next door? The property next door is using purely for testing. The machine on the left is used to create wind, while the equipment on the right tests the exact temperature of the wall to determine the exact impact of the weather outside on the heat inside

‘But we had to ask them to carry out different tasks to the second to ensure the tests were fair, and it left too much scope for error. It’s easier now it’s all automated, so we can create different scenarios like ‘John arrives home at five thirty in the evening, opens the front door, turns on the television, puts the oven on for dinner’. We can replicate this exact scenario day after day.’

The absence of real residents does have one downside though. ‘People give out about as much heat as a 60 watt lightbulb on average,’ says Richard. ‘The effect of this is lost through automation. There’s also humidity created from breathing that we cannot replicate.’

The house is also used to ‘test tests’ explains Richard.

For example, researchers can use it to calculate exactly what impact a type of insulation should have to use as a benchmark for tests in people’s homes.

As the only house in a hangar in the world, the Energy House is booked up for months by companies and scientists.

'We can replicate the effects of all weather - except the sun,' laughs Richard. 'But that's not so much of a problem in Salford.'

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